1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a wireless communication partner searching method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An imaging apparatus having a wireless communication function (hereinafter, referred to as a communication imaging apparatus) has recently been developed in the imaging apparatus field, especially in the digital camera field for transferring data to and from an external device.
As a wireless communication technology, electromagnetic waves of varied standards, for example, “a wireless LAN technology such as IEEE802.11” and “Bluetooth” can be used in addition to a technology using infrared light such as a remote controller for conventional home electric appliances. Since such electromagnetic waves have penetration force, they are more practical than infrared light in communication ability even if there is an obstruction.
However, in general, portable small electric equipment is required to accumulate battery power for operating the equipment, so it is required to reduce the power consumption to the 1 mW order. Even the communication imaging apparatus is no exception, and it is an important problem to reduce power consumption of the communication imaging apparatus in every way.
In addition, when using the communication function, the communication imaging apparatus uses power for outputting electromagnetic waves. It is especially an important problem for the communication imaging apparatus to reduce this power consumption.
As an invention for solving the above problems, a digital camera is disclosed in JP2003-60959A, for example. This digital camera is connected with a wireless communication device via a network, so as to exchange information with each other. The digital camera includes a searching device for searching for a communicatable wireless communication device. This searching device searches for a communicatable wireless communication device if the power source of the camera is turned on.
However, if the imaging apparatus is designed to reduce only the power consumption, the usability of the communication imaging apparatus may be degraded. The improvement in the operability of the apparatus is another problem. More particularly, there is a problem with this communication imaging apparatus in that can not immediately start the communication when communicating with a partner device.
In a communication imaging apparatus which searches for a partner device in the background, the searching timing is not determined. Accordingly, there is a problem in that unnecessary power is consumed. In addition, the arithmetic ability of the communication imaging apparatus is spent for the searching process of the partner device, causing a problem in that a high-speed photographing process may be disturbed.
Moreover, an art, which can conduct communication as soon as an operator wishes to conduct the communication, is not disclosed in the digital camera described in JP2003-60959A. Therefore, there is a problem in that unnecessary power may be consumed when the communication is not necessary.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an imaging apparatus which can conduct communication as soon as an operator wishes, does not consume unnecessary power by a partner searching process, and also does not disturb a high-speed photographing process.